Complicated
by deviousdani
Summary: All Troy Bolton wants to do is ask Gabriella Montez out on a date. But things get a little complicated while going to his friends for advice. Oneshot


**A/N- Hey! So I was trying to write my English paper, but I got so frustrated that I started this. I hope it is okay! Reviews are appreciated =)**

**Disclaimer- I do not claim to own the characters or High School Musical. I am in no way connected to the producers of this movie. I also do not own Toys R us, or the Easy Bake Oven. I DO have a goldfish named Roy, though!**

Troy Bolton was a man of simplicity. His life revolved around basketball, eating, and sleeping. Oh, and occasionally parties- mostly during the summers. His family consisted of his dad, Jack, his mom, Lucille, himself, and his goldfish, Roy. When Troy first got his goldfish three months ago, he excitedly called Chad to tell him the news.

"_Man, I got a goldfish!" _

"_A goldfish?"_

"_Yeah dude. He is awesome! Guess what I named him."_

"_Ummm… Basketball?"_

"_You idiot. That was a rhetorical question. I didn't actually want you to guess his name!"  
_

_Oh, uh, what's rhetorical?"_

"_Oh my god. Moving on. His name is- drum roll please- Roy!"  
_

"_Wow man, REAL original."_

"_What is that supposed to mean?!"_

"_Dude, Roy? T-roy? Seriously, change his name. I suggest Basketball."_

"_Chad."_

"_Hoops?"_

"_Chad."_

"_Oh, I got it! Captain!"_

"_CHAD!"_

"_What?"_

"_I can't just change his name! He already knows it! If I change it, Roy will get confused."_

"_Troy, Roy is a goldfish."_

"_So?"_

"_So his memory lasts three freaking seconds! Just change the name!"_

"_No. I like the name. And so does Roy."_

"_How would you know? What, do you talk to your goldfish?"_

"_I am hanging up now."_

"_One more thing."_

"_What?"_

"_How do you tell if your fish is a girl or a boy?"_

Nevertheless, Troy kept the name. Troy Bolton was a man of simplicity. Naming your goldfish after yourself is simple. Unfortunately, there are some things and life that can't help but become complicated.

………

Troy entered the cafeteria with a confused expression on his face. He walked over to one of the tables, which contained Chad and enough food to last any normal person a week.

"Hey Chad."

"Sup Bolton?" Unfortunately, Chad was too busy downing his cheeseburger to notice his friend's peculiar facial expression.

"I have a problem," Troy remarked, sliding onto one of the chairs.

"You came to the right person. And with what may I help you?" Chad asked while doing a terrible impersonation of a person with a British accent.

"I think I li…"

"Now, excuse me kind sir, but I must remind you that all services of mine are costly. My normal rates are three hundred dollars per hour. However, because you are my best friend and all, I will cut down the final bill to three hundred fifty per hour."

"Chad, that isn't better. It's worse!"

"Well, if you insist on yelling, maybe I will refuse to grant you service!"

"Fine! I will go find Zeke."

"No! Troy, buddy, I was only kiddin'. Don't go to Zeke. TROY!" Chad yelled across the cafeteria to the chestnut haired boy stomping out of the Cafeteria.

"Crybaby." Chad muttered.

……………….

"Yo, Zeke!" Troy yelled to the tall African American, who, while Troy had spent all of lunch hour looking for, ended up being in the Home Economics room. Troy jogged over to him, only to see Zeke scurrying in attempt to take off his apron.

"Uh, hey T..Troy. What's, uhm, up?" Zeke tried to act nonchalant as he stuffed the apron into a nearby oven.

"Did you just put your tie-y thing in the oven?" Troy asked, glancing over his friends shoulder.

"What?! No, I was just, you know, checking it for… marbles." Zeke replied lamely, while blushing slightly.

"Marbles? Huh, for some reason, my mom always bakes with that thing. She is so weird." Troy said sarcastically. Meanwhile, he ran over to the oven and pulled the door open. Inside was Zeke's 'tie-y' thing, crumpled up into a ball. Troy unrolled the apron, revealing a blue cloth with pink and white bunnies scrawled across it. "Aww, its so cute Zekey! Where'd you get it? Toys R us?" He snickered, smirking at the crimson colored boy.

"Dude, c'mon, it was playschool day. Five year olds came in during lunch and I baked for them. _They_ liked it!"

As Troy continued to laugh, Zeke's embarrassment turned into anger. "Fuck you man." He snarled, snatching the apron out of the brown haired, blue eyed boy's hands.

"Woah, Zeke, calm down. I was joking." Troy holds his hands up defensively, surrendering to the ranting African American.

"You know what? I don't fucking need this. Here I am, trying to do something nice for little kids, and all you can do is fucking make fun of me! I am outta here."

Zeke stormed away, while Troy continued to laugh. Soon, however, Troy's eyes grew wide as he remembered why he found Zeke in the first place.

"Wait, Zeke, I need help! Dude!" Troy yelled at the retreating figure. He was answered by Zeke's middle finger.

…..

Troy trudged to English, feeling sorry for himself. He blew off Chad. Zeke blew him off. Now what? Walking into Mrs. Landsbergis's class, Troy's eyes lit up. Jason!

"Hey Jase, sup?" Troy acted nonchalant while he took his seat next to the black haired basketball player.

"Hey Captain!" Jason greeted cheerfully. Troy started to talk, but Mrs. Landsbergis cut him off. Their class had been working on an ongoing project about Shakespeare. They had to choose a scene, analyze it, and then act it out in front of the class. Fortunately for Troy, his partner was Jason.

"Ok, class, I want you to start working on your projects, as you will be presenting as well as performing them next week. Chop chop!"

"So, Troy, what's new?" Jason asked as they began to work.

"Well, I need some advice actually. About what to do about Gabriella. I want to ask her out, but she went on that date with that Johnny kid, you know, the one from our Spanish class? She said she had fun. And I don't know what to do. I tried going to Chad, but he started speaking Harry Potter language and saying I was going to have to pay him, so I stomped off. And seriously, who eats that much food?! He is going to get fat when his metabolism slows down. So then I tried to go to Zeke, ask him what to do. But he had his bunny tie-y thing so I started making fun of him. And he started throwing the f-word around like it was going to become illegal to say it. I guess it is illegal to say fuck in school. Oh fuck, I just said it. Fuck. Oh shit, I said it again. Uh oh, are we not allowed to say shit? Now I am going to get kicked out of school and I won't get a basketball scholarship and I will be a failure. Fuck!" Troy covered his mouth, his cheeks turning red. He looked at Jason, who had a glazed expression on his face.

"What was the question again?"

Oh, fuck it.

…………………………

"Tay-lor!" Troy sung her name, as she glanced sharply up from her chemistry book.

"Oh, hello Troy. What do you need, because I am quite busy at the moment, and my services require pay…" She trailed off, grinning at him.

"You heard Chad today at lunch, didn't you?" Troy questioned, glaring at her.

"I might've." She smirked, then looked at her watch. "But I really am in a hurry, the decathlon meeting starts in ten minutes, and it wouldn't be good if I were late, being the captain and all." She said briskly, putting her books away in her rolling backpack.

"This will only take five." Troy promised, looking at her with begging eyes.

"Oh, I suppose. This wouldn't have to do with you wanting to ask Gabriella out, would it?" She grinned cheekily at him. "Or is it about you getting thrown out of school for saying the f-word?"

"God damnit. This is the last time I go to Jason for advice." Troy grumbled.

"Yeah, not the best idea on your part. Poor Jase came walking up to me after school with the funniest confused expression on his face. You had him worried about his, and your, sanity."

"Poor Jase? Poor Jase?! He isn't the one who had the girl he likes go out on a date with another guy and supposedly have a great time! So once again, I ask, Poor Jase? What about poor Troy?!" Troy yelled at her. Taylor, however, seemed unfazed by his outburst.

"Oh, Troy. If you can't figure this out by yourself, you need to go to counseling. I am afraid your five minutes are up. See you later." She smiled at him, while pulling her backpack out of the student lounge and turning left.

Troy leaned back in his chair with two things running through his mind: He needed to find a new group of friends, and he needed to look up a counselor in the yellow pages.

……………

"Hello all!" Taylor greeted cheerfully to her fellow decathlon teammates. She waved at them, and all except one waved back. Taylor glanced at the clock. She had three minutes until the official meeting was to be started. Taylor Mckessie was punctual. She started everything right on time. Not a minute early, not a minute late. However, when your best friend needs you, there is not a lot you can do other than help them. So Taylor walked over to Gabriella, whose head was resting on her Trigonometry book.

"Hey Gabs. What's the matter?" Taylor asked.

"Tay, I tried the whole 'get him jealous thing' but it didn't work at all. And seriously, I was about to shoot myself during that date- if you could call it that. We went into the mountains and listened to birds! I mean seriously, there is a _reason_ no one lives up there. Nobody wants to listen to freaking birds chirping! But now, Troy won't even talk to me! I tried going to sit next to him at lunch, but I swear he looked at me and stormed out of there. Then, in English, he started ranting, and I _know _he said my name. I also know he said something about my metabolism slowing down. Taylor, he called me fat!" The petite Latin girl started pounding her head on the table. "And now, I am too embarrassed to talk to him! He always said he didn't care about weight. I only weigh 120. Is that FAT?!"

"Gabriella, breathe. In, out, in, out." Gabriella took the deep breaths, her face looking murderous. Taylor glanced at the clock. Thirty seconds left. Oh no.

"Ok, Gabriella, look at me. The jealous thing didn't work, I will admit that. But not in the way you think. He didn't ask you out because he doesn't like you; he didn't ask you out because he thinks you like Johnny. And he stormed away from Chad, not you. And during English he was talking about how much Chad eats. Ok? He likes you. Now calm down, because I need you ready to present for the meeting. Which is starting… Now! Everyone, in your seats. It is four o'clock, which means the twenty minute meeting is in session. Please settle down."

Gabriella stared at her best friend. What did she just say?

………..

"Troy, listen, you aren't still mad at me about today, are you? Because I swear, I was only joking. You would only have to pay 275…haha, just kidding buddy. 120. Ok, fine, FREE! There, are you happy? You get advice for free. " Chad's voice could be heard from Troy's voicemail, and it sounded slightly higher than normal. "Just, call me back, kay? Dude, I couldn't even eat my curly fries today!"

_Message deleted._

"Bolton, its Zeke. Guess what I just found out. When you were five, you had an apron with cats on it. Yeah, you owned an Easy Bake Oven and everything. Gotta thank Mrs. B for letting me look at your baby pics. Bayback is a bitch!"

_Message deleted._

"Uh, Hello? Oh, haha, its your answering machine. Whoops." Gabriella's nervous voice filled the air. Troy froze. "So, uh, the reason I am calling is, well, uh, I guess, haha, there isn't a reason I am calling. Uh, yeah, but I just wanted to say that if you think I am fat, then its, uhm, its ok. Yeah, its ok. Oh my god, did I seriously just say that? Taylor, you are supposed to be helping me, not screwing me up! What? Oh shit, I am still on, aren't I? Haha, whoops. Again. I just wanted to tell you that Johnny was, um, super boring. He made me listen to birds. And I don't like him. Like that. Not in the way I like you. Because, I guess you could say I have a crush on you. Yeah. I do. Uh, yeah, so if you could just maybe, delete this or, I dunno. Uh, coll me back. Coll me back? What does that mean?! Well how was I supposed to know it said call? Then write more clearly! Oh fuck. Troy? Yeah, sorry. Just, uh, delete this message. And maybe don't approach me at school? Save me from embarrassment? Oh my god, why did I just say that? Anyway, yeah. Just delete this message. Haha. Yeah. Bye… Oh. I have to hang up, don't I? Oops.

_Message saved._

…………_.._

Troy walked into school the next day with a grin on his face. Instead of following his regular routine and going to his locker, the drinking fountain, Chad's locker, then Gabriella's, he skipped the first three and headed straight to Gabriella's locker.

"Uh, hey." He greeted her when he was within talking distance. Her head snapped up from the book she was reading, and she immediately turned red.

"Hi." She said cautiously, not making eye contact with him.

"So, I got your message."

"Oh god. Yeah, listen. About that, Taylor was writing down what I should say, but she has really terrible writing. So I screwed up a few words. And, uh, I kinda argued with her a little while the message started going. And it probably took up all the memory in your voicemail, and I, uh, wasn't sure how to say what I felt, and you probably think I am a complete idiot and…"

She trailed off, looking up at him. He was smiling at her. "Gabriella, chill. I like you too. And I have been trying to get enough courage so I could ask you out. So, sorry it took so long. But I would just like to know if you would want to go out to dinner with me on Friday?"

"Oh my gosh, really? You aren't just asking because of my message, are you?"

"No. I am asking because I genuinely like you. Crazy, huh?"

"No. Not crazy at all." She smiled at him, and he grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together.

"So, bird listening? Oh, did you know I have a goldfish named Roy?"

…………….

Troy Bolton was a man of simplicity. His life revolved around basketball, eating, sleeping, and parties. Asking Gabriella Montez out had become complicated. But Friday would be his first date with her. The first of many. The first of many uncomplicated, simple, easygoing dates with her. Friday.

Oh fuck.

His first counseling meeting was on Friday.


End file.
